Just seen this on a Facebook page - Capstone Valley in the Medway area
is a beautiful place where they want to build more houses. This will
join up Lordswood and Hempstead getting rid of another valuable green
lung for the Medway area. Having lived in both Lordswood and Hempstead I
know how bad the traffic is and this will just cause even more
problems.
"IMPORTANT UPDATE:
This is a long post but please read to the end as it contains important details that you need to know.
Jane has just been speaking with Wendy Simpson, who is the case manager
at Medway Council for the Gibraltar Farm application, so the following
is the definitive advice:
MC/20/0347 is the application on which
you need to be commenting. Because outline planning permission has
already been granted under MC/18/0556 (which was a renewal of
MC/14/2395), you cannot now object to the actual development taking
place, so it’s totally pointless anyone trying to lodge comments and
objections on MC/18 or MC/14."
Where will the extra 8 million over the next 20 years live. Also i think its estimated there will be an extra 30% more cars on our roads over the next 25 years
Air b and b, the Thatcherite crushing of social housing, and properties standing empty is a problem. The new 'brownfields' might well be the high street given the impact of the internet.
Not sure if this is still the case but when I was doing my environmental science degree in connection with buildings, the local council used to have a structure plan that looked 10 years ahead, this included resident, commercial, roads and industrial outlets etc that were seeking to come to the local areas within that time frame.
You could go to the council and ask for a copy of it, as it was published but not in the public domain. This was 1996 and not sure if it still applicable but has probably been replaced by something else.
It’s not just Kent. I live in a small village in East Sussex of about 1,000 inhabitants. Wealden Council have in the last two years approved developments, despite concerted efforts by us for them not to do so, for 80 houses on one site and 55 on another site, both on previous farmland sold by the farmers. Other applications are in the pipeline. Just down the road the very small village of Herstmonceux has a few developments approved and one in the building stage. Ten miles away Hailsham used to be surrounded by five other small villages. Due to a number of small developments they have now been swallowed up by Hailsham and are no longer distinguishable as a separate village. Eastbourne is forever expanding outwards. I’m amazed where all the people moving in to such developments actually work. It’s not abundant down here and they can’t all travel to London, it’s expensive and time consuming.
We are paying the price of being too lax on immigration over the last twenty or so years, under Governments of both parties, and we need to do something about it soon. I don’t know what the answer is but we can’t keep building and building.
Just seen this on a Facebook page - Capstone Valley in the Medway area
is a beautiful place where they want to build more houses. This will
join up Lordswood and Hempstead getting rid of another valuable green
lung for the Medway area. Having lived in both Lordswood and Hempstead I
know how bad the traffic is and this will just cause even more
problems.
"IMPORTANT UPDATE:
This is a long post but please read to the end as it contains important details that you need to know.
Jane has just been speaking with Wendy Simpson, who is the case manager
at Medway Council for the Gibraltar Farm application, so the following
is the definitive advice:
MC/20/0347 is the application on which
you need to be commenting. Because outline planning permission has
already been granted under MC/18/0556 (which was a renewal of
MC/14/2395), you cannot now object to the actual development taking
place, so it’s totally pointless anyone trying to lodge comments and
objections on MC/18 or MC/14."
I'm part of the group, we've objected every application. The plans are going to bring absolute chaos to the area. The roads cannot sustain even moderate traffic currently and they have no intention of spending any money beyond adding their slip road to the massive estate. One of the developers was almost lynched at a planning meeting at the leisure centre.
What I'll say, it isn't all of the Attwood family that want to sell the land. The arsehole of the family does the others do not.
Lordswood isn't in any way well linked by public transport, it is a great place to live if you drive and need access to the M2 and M20 but useless for commuting so that will guarantee a ton more vehicles and pollution. Not to mention these builds are not in anyway affordable and built like slums with everything on top of one another with parking space for one vehicle per dwelling.
Add to that the area of land is beautiful, a natural unpolluted genuine green space and nature habitat. It is used by plenty of people not to mention it is used for growing food.
The councillors, local MPs and the council itself rejected the plans only for the muppet in central government to barge it through. Prick
I was living in Lordswood when the public consultation was taking place for the widening of the M2 to 4 lanes. It was clear then, that junction 3 would not be able to cope with the amount of traffic and we suggested that another junction be created between J3 and J4. We were told at the time that the 2 junctions were too close to allow that to happen. Junction 3 is now dreadful at rush hour and there are long queues on the M2 exit slip as well as on Bluebell Hill and surrounding roads. If the developments on North Dane Way and Capstone Valley go ahead, Junctions 3 and 4 will have even more problems.
The junction of the A229 with the M20 at the bottom of Bluebell Hill is another road planning disaster. On the M20 in that area you have traffic from junctions 5 and 6 joining together via a distributor lane and then joining with the M20 coastbound. At the same point you have traffic wanting to come off the M20 at J7. This has the effect of traffic from three junctions trying to cross each other at the same point. Whoever planned this did not take future traffic increases into account.
It’s not just Kent. I live in a small village in East Sussex of about 1,000 inhabitants. Wealden Council have in the last two years approved developments, despite concerted efforts by us for them not to do so, for 80 houses on one site and 55 on another site, both on previous farmland sold by the farmers. Other applications are in the pipeline. Just down the road the very small village of Herstmonceux has a few developments approved and one in the building stage. Ten miles away Hailsham used to be surrounded by five other small villages. Due to a number of small developments they have now been swallowed up by Hailsham and are no longer distinguishable as a separate village. Eastbourne is forever expanding outwards. I’m amazed where all the people moving in to such developments actually work. It’s not abundant down here and they can’t all travel to London, it’s expensive and time consuming.
We are paying the price of being too lax on immigration over the last twenty or so years, under Governments of both parties, and we need to do something about it soon. I don’t know what the answer is but we can’t keep building and building.
Careful with your last sentence mate, you will be branded a racist here by the usual lot, even though you have genuine concerns....
@seth plum these developments are not affordable housing or for rough sleepers, they are expensive houses mainly for commuters.
Exactly that, there will be social housing mixed into things but nowhere near enough to solve the homeless problem. This is about making a lot of money for a handful of people it is not about sustainable housing
Social housing in Medway is scarce and there is an increasingly competitive private
rented sector. This has meant that many people are struggling to secure affordable
and suitable housing. There is a wide spectrum of housing needs across
households which apply to the Housing Register. The needs presented range from
those who need action urgently to resolve their housing situation (Band A) to those in
housing need who have worsened their situation through action or inaction (Band D).
Bands A to D are considered ‘active’ bands and number approximately 5,400. This
includes those people in sheltered housing as well as those applying for transfers
(which accounts for 3,500 of the active numbers).
In addition to this we have a large number of ‘inactive’ households who are housed
securely but wish to retain the option of potential moves to social housing in the
future. These currently form the majority of people on the Housing Register and add
approximately 14,000 households to our reported total.
A number of districts neighbouring Medway Council have chosen to reframe their
Housing Register resulting in significant drops in annual numbers reported. Medway
Council’s allocations policy is due to be reviewed and consideration will be made as
to whether we should adopt similar practice and restrict our Housing Register solely
to those households in housing need.
The numbers of households being placed in temporary accommodation has
increased year on year and the council has had to work hard to ensure that almost
all accommodation provided is within Medway. This enables households to maintain
employment, health and education with the minimum of disruption. A wide range of
temporary accommodation has been sourced to meet the needs of all sizes of
households and those including people with disabilities.
ME...I thought that every substantial housing development had too by local and government guidelines have to have a % of social housing attached to them.
ME...I thought that every substantial housing development had too by local and government guidelines have to have a % of social housing attached to them.
They do, but home builders and developers are not martyrs. They plan to erect as many dwellings as possible at as smaller cost as possible. There are no plans to improve the road, healthcare or utility infrastructure so this will just be more people in an area that cannot sustain them
ME...I thought that every substantial housing development had too by local and government guidelines have to have a % of social housing attached to them.
They do to some extent but it depends on how 'affordable' they are.
We need more housing developement in the country side. We need to reduce the population density of the urban area for long term public health safety. As more people can work at home no need to increase the commuter numbers either. Also people can do more home shopping so less need for physical shopping areas. I suspect this is the long term future.
@seth plum these developments are not affordable housing or for rough sleepers, they are expensive houses mainly for commuters.
I imagine they absolutely are. Posh places for rich people. If those who move into them are local, then possibly it will free up their previous accomodation for other local people to move into. A filter down process that somehow addresses the general housing and homelessness issue in Medway and elsewhere.
ME...I thought that every substantial housing development had too by local and government guidelines have to have a % of social housing attached to them.
They do to some extent but it depends on how 'affordable' they are.
Thanks and to Carter above...My daughter lives in Bramley in Hants and she picked up a brochure from the village estate agent of new homes for sale being built in the village, there wasnt a house less than 580k for sale.
The village has one shop/pub/bakery/small doctors surgery and of course the estate agent. The infrastructure doesn't match the amount of people living in the village, I would assume somewhere there would be a matrix for what is needed per head of population within these small towns and villages. And I mean essential services not desirable ones like a hairdressers or a chippy. (well everywhere needs a chippy)
Comments
"IMPORTANT UPDATE:
This is a long post but please read to the end as it contains important details that you need to know.
Jane has just been speaking with Wendy Simpson, who is the case manager at Medway Council for the Gibraltar Farm application, so the following is the definitive advice:
MC/20/0347 is the application on which you need to be commenting. Because outline planning permission has already been granted under MC/18/0556 (which was a renewal of MC/14/2395), you cannot now object to the actual development taking place, so it’s totally pointless anyone trying to lodge comments and objections on MC/18 or MC/14."
(More here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/KentWildlife/permalink/10157994263078046/)
Also i think its estimated there will be an extra 30% more cars on our roads over the next 25 years
This is about excessive housing construction in the Garden of England and specifically around Maidstone where I live.
I don't want to continually hear your diatribes about anything remotely to the right of Leon Trotsky.
You could go to the council and ask for a copy of it, as it was published but not in the public domain. This was 1996 and not sure if it still applicable but has probably been replaced by something else.
Empty property.
https://www.kentonline.co.uk/maidstone/news/big-jump-in-empty-properties-201512/
https://www.airbnb.co.uk/s/Maidstone-District--United-Kingdom
https://www.medway.gov.uk/info/200154/housing_options/109/apply_for_social_housing
We are paying the price of being too lax on immigration over the last twenty or so years, under Governments of both parties, and we need to do something about it soon. I don’t know what the answer is but we can’t keep building and building.
Start and Air B & B thread if you want to - at least I can ignore that as it is of no interest to me.
https://www.kenthomechoice.org.uk/choice/pdffiles/KentPublicFreesheet_MAID.pdf
What I'll say, it isn't all of the Attwood family that want to sell the land. The arsehole of the family does the others do not.
Lordswood isn't in any way well linked by public transport, it is a great place to live if you drive and need access to the M2 and M20 but useless for commuting so that will guarantee a ton more vehicles and pollution. Not to mention these builds are not in anyway affordable and built like slums with everything on top of one another with parking space for one vehicle per dwelling.
Add to that the area of land is beautiful, a natural unpolluted genuine green space and nature habitat. It is used by plenty of people not to mention it is used for growing food.
The councillors, local MPs and the council itself rejected the plans only for the muppet in central government to barge it through. Prick
Document dated February this year.
https://www.kent.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/7356/Affordable-housing-in-Kent.pdf
I was living in Lordswood when the public consultation was taking place for the widening of the M2 to 4 lanes. It was clear then, that junction 3 would not be able to cope with the amount of traffic and we suggested that another junction be created between J3 and J4. We were told at the time that the 2 junctions were too close to allow that to happen. Junction 3 is now dreadful at rush hour and there are long queues on the M2 exit slip as well as on Bluebell Hill and surrounding roads. If the developments on North Dane Way and Capstone Valley go ahead, Junctions 3 and 4 will have even more problems.
The junction of the A229 with the M20 at the bottom of Bluebell Hill is another road planning disaster. On the M20 in that area you have traffic from junctions 5 and 6 joining together via a distributor lane and then joining with the M20 coastbound. At the same point you have traffic wanting to come off the M20 at J7. This has the effect of traffic from three junctions trying to cross each other at the same point. Whoever planned this did not take future traffic increases into account.
There's 17.
Information in the link below.
https://www.kent.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/91361/Rough-sleepers-in-Kent-report.pdf
Howhere near enough one and two bed properties and flats are part of these developments.
file:///Users/nigel/Downloads/homelessness_prevention_strategy_2017___2019.pdf
This is a section from the document:
Social housing in Medway is scarce and there is an increasingly competitive private rented sector. This has meant that many people are struggling to secure affordable and suitable housing. There is a wide spectrum of housing needs across households which apply to the Housing Register. The needs presented range from those who need action urgently to resolve their housing situation (Band A) to those in housing need who have worsened their situation through action or inaction (Band D). Bands A to D are considered ‘active’ bands and number approximately 5,400. This includes those people in sheltered housing as well as those applying for transfers (which accounts for 3,500 of the active numbers). In addition to this we have a large number of ‘inactive’ households who are housed securely but wish to retain the option of potential moves to social housing in the future. These currently form the majority of people on the Housing Register and add approximately 14,000 households to our reported total. A number of districts neighbouring Medway Council have chosen to reframe their Housing Register resulting in significant drops in annual numbers reported. Medway Council’s allocations policy is due to be reviewed and consideration will be made as to whether we should adopt similar practice and restrict our Housing Register solely to those households in housing need. The numbers of households being placed in temporary accommodation has increased year on year and the council has had to work hard to ensure that almost all accommodation provided is within Medway. This enables households to maintain employment, health and education with the minimum of disruption. A wide range of temporary accommodation has been sourced to meet the needs of all sizes of households and those including people with disabilities.
Also people can do more home shopping so less need for physical shopping areas. I suspect this is the long term future.
If those who move into them are local, then possibly it will free up their previous accomodation for other local people to move into.
A filter down process that somehow addresses the general housing and homelessness issue in Medway and elsewhere.
The village has one shop/pub/bakery/small doctors surgery and of course the estate agent. The infrastructure doesn't match the amount of people living in the village, I would assume somewhere there would be a matrix for what is needed per head of population within these small towns and villages. And I mean essential services not desirable ones like a hairdressers or a chippy. (well everywhere needs a chippy)